Miller-Melone Ranch

About this property

Miller-Melone Ranch is a historic American Craftsman ranch-style homestead, located in Saratoga, California. The ranch house was designed and built by architect Frank Delos Wolfe in 1911 for Charles Miller and his wife Lillian Fern Melone. It is the last remaining prune ranch home in the Saratoga area. The Miller-Melone Ranch was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on April 1, 1993. In 1876, William Thomas Melone married Lucy A. Melone. In 1887, they moved from Illinois to Saratoga with their five children. There, they acquired several parcels of orchard land. Following Lucy Melone's death in 1905, she left land to each of her children. Lillian Fern Melone inherited 21.23 acres (8.59 ha). Lillian, who later married Charles Miller, built the Miller-Melone house on a portion of the inherited acreage. The Miller-Melone Ranch remains the only existing prune ranch home and orchard in the Saratoga area, preserving its original outbuildings. This property includes a 200 ft (61 m) driveway off Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road, ranch house, a garage, a tank house, and a windmill. From 1911 to 1986, Charlie Miller and his family resided in the residence that served as the home for the prune orchardist. During their seventy-five years on this ranch, the Millers witnessed the latter stages of the prime era of agriculture in the Santa Clara Valley Santa Clara Valley, its subsequent decline, and the shift from a rural, crop-dependent transition to an urbanized society. Throughout their residency in the Craftsman house, the experiences of the Miller family closely mirrored many other fruit ranching families in Santa Clara County, California. From 1905 to 1986, the majority of the 21 acres were sold to various buyers, leaving only 2.8 acres (1.1 ha) remaining. The Miller-Melone Ranch has a two-bedroom, one-bath American Craftsman-style ranch house, with a garage, tank house, windmill, a non-contributing aviary, and a well-preserved cast-iron lidded fuel oil container. Built in 1910–11, the ranch house has undergone only two alterations: an 8 ft (2.4 m) rear porch addition, and the porch used for sleeping was enclosed. The owner has preserved the 1+1⁄2-and-one-half story side-gabled Craftsman. The 2.4 acres (0.97 ha) property features a 200 ft (61 m) driveway that has access to the main road. Next to the main entrance in the east lies a shallow garden pond, with low shrubs lining the front porch. Towards the rear of the house, there is a tank house and a one-car garage. On the west side of the back porch, a windmill and a deteriorating aviary. The property is encircled by heritage oaks, mature redwood, mountain elm, buckeye, and palm trees. Situated 60 ft (18 m) from the back door is the original prune orchard.

Location

Categories

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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